Department for Education

Teachers: North West

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many unqualified staff are currently teaching children in each local authority in the North West of England.

Mr David Laws: The following table provides the head count number of regular teachers without qualified teacher status (QTS) in service in publicly funded schools in each local authority in the North West region in England in November 2013. The information is from the School Workforce Census which takes place in November each year. November 2013 is the latest information available.  November 2013NORTH WEST1,630Knowsley14Liverpool140St. Helens11Sefton41Wirral52Bolton58Bury49Manchester125Oldham59Rochdale75Salford60Stockport54Tameside91Trafford118Wigan96Halton28Warrington54Lancashire270Blackburn with Darwen23Blackpool14Cheshire East39Cheshire West and Chester48Cumbria111 Source: School Workforce Census

Teachers: North West

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many unqualified staff were teaching children in each local authority in the North West of England in April 2010.

Mr David Laws: The following table provides the head count number of regular teachers without qualified teacher status (QTS) in service in publicly funded schools in each local authority in the North West region in England in November 2010. The information is from the School Workforce Census which takes place in November each year.  November 2010NORTH WEST2,119Knowsley17Liverpool81St. Helens4Sefton60Wirral47Bolton59Bury246Manchester138Oldham80Rochdale85Salford267Stockport66Tameside64Trafford118Wigan52Halton12Warrington59Lancashire246Blackburn with Darwen47Blackpool15Cheshire East172Cheshire West and Chester73Cumbria111 Source: School Workforce Census

Schools: Inspections

Sir Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance she has given to Ofsted about age-appropriate questioning of pupils regarding sexuality and transsexualism during inspections.

Mr David Laws: No guidance has been given by the Department for Education on this matter as the issuing of guidance to Ofsted inspectors is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw.

Ministry of Justice

Grandparents

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of existing arrangements for grandparents to have access to their grandchildren following the divorce of the parents of those children.

Simon Hughes: When making any decision about a child’s upbringing the court’s paramount consideration will be the welfare of the child. The Government believes that the existing arrangements for grandparents to spend time with their grandchildren in cases of parental dispute are effective and do not unfairly disadvantage grandparents. Child arrangements orders are able to deal with all the arrangements needed for a child in a single order, and that could include arrangements for spending time with grandparents where the court is considering this as an issue.

Women and Equalities

Access to Elected Office for Disabled People Fund

Alison McGovern: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many people have applied for the Access to Elected Office for Disabled People Fund in each year since its establishment; and what estimate she has made of the total grants from that date to May 2015.

Jo Swinson: The number of people who have made applications to the Access to Elected Office fund by year is in the table.Financial YearNumber of applicants2012/13272013/14342014/15 (to date)34  The total value of Grants awarded to date (from July 2012 to January 2015) is £399,061, and applications totalling £92,442 are currently pending. Total grant expenditure will depend on the final number of successful applications between now and the end of March 2015, after which date the fund will cease to take applications.